A Dragon's Journey
by Aspiring Dragon Knight
Summary: A/N Title will change once i hit four/five chapters and figure out this story long-term. After accidentally missing their routine morning flight, Hiccup notices an interesting change in Toothless. Now, the both of them will be closer than ever before, but may find certain obstacles in their path...
1. Merry Snoggletog

A/N Yes, I know this is a little late but I had to make a contribution to Snoggletog (plus a friend asked me to write this.) This story is rated M for possible future scenes. Don't worry, if they happen I'll make them side chapters with a disclaimer so nobody misses anything. This will be M/M, Toothcup!

"This is Berk. As the constant snowfall turns to even more constant snowstorms, we Vikings tend to find whatever comforts against the cold we can. So, as the dragons prepare to leave Berk to lay their eggs, everyone starts their own tradition during Snoggletog by decorating the village in a haphazard way that only stubborn Vikings can achieve"

Hiccup, as he had become used to over the years, was awoken sharply just as first light started to creep over the village. The loud banging in the roof was quickly accompanied by a soft roar and annoyed grumbling. Hiccup just turned over in his bed, shoving his head against the pillow and trying his best to ignore his friend's constant whines. What Hiccup was not expecting, however, was for the noises to simply stop suddenly, and, despite his curiosity over what Toothless was now doing, exhaustion won out and he drifted back to sleep…

Which lasted about ten seconds as he was awoken again, but this time by the feeling of falling and then impacting a cold, wooden surface. To add to his current state of pain and confusion, he could also feel a large weight pressing into his chest, along with something soft and wet dragging up his cheek. "Ew no, Toothless, stop" Hiccup laughed.

Try as Hiccup might to push the large Night Fury away, he quickly realized he was trapped beneath the currently not-so-much 'unholy offspring of lightning and death itself' but more of an overgrown cat that was currently covering his face in dragon slobber. _There's only one way out of this_, Hiccup thought. "Sorry bud" Hiccup said, not quite as apologetic as he perhaps should have been as he reached his left hand up to the dragons head, and quickly pressed against the dragon's weakness, a spot right below his chin.

Said dragon instantly widened his eyes with a mixed look of surprise, betrayal and pleasure, as he all but collapsed on the ground in front of Hiccup. What Hiccup did not expect, however, was that Toothless had fallen as he was leaning over Hiccup so, naturally, some of Toothless ended up collapsing on top of Hiccup causing him to be trapped beneath a tonne of currently unconscious dragon. _Well, _Hiccup thought dryly, _this is just great..._

Despitebeing trapped, Hiccup actually felt remarkably comfortable underneath Toothless, the large dragon was giving off plenty of heat which, since his blanket was underneath him now, was starting to warm him enough to lull him back to sleep as well...

A few hours later and Hiccup began stirring again as he heard annoyed grumbling above him. "Huh? Wha-" Hiccup mumbled drowsily. After a few seconds Hiccup would swear he could hear a voice somewhere near him, it was strange though, he could understand the words being spoken (something like, "I can't believe you, how would you like it if I stole your weird new leg thing?) But the voice saying this things sounded familiar in some way. It couldn't be his dad, despite being similarly deep, this voice had a rich baritone to it and lacked his dad's rough Scottish brogue. So, in order to identify the owner of this strange, yet still so familiar voice (which was still going on about him taking advantage of someone or something), Hiccup began to sit up and open his eyes only to come face-to-face with a very large and apparently livid dragon.

The morning's events suddenly came rushing back to Hiccup as he wearily watched Toothless stare at him evenly, not blinking at all and still with a look of anger and incredulity. Hiccup, despite having known Toothless for two years now, was suddenly very scared and began stammering out excuses, "Bud! Ah, I-I'm sorry, like really, really sorry, you-you know I-I wouldn't normally do something like that" Hiccup laughed nervously trying to defuse the tension that was so palpable he doubted his dad could cut it with his axe.

Toothless, on the other hand, made no move, noise or any sort of indicator to show that he heard what Hiccup has said, still staring at Hiccup with a rage only a Night Fury could muster, and suddenly, almost like he knew **exactly** what Toothless was thinking, Hiccup knew why Toothless was so mad. Their morning flight. Hiccups eyes widened with shock as he stared open mouthed at the dragon in front of him.

"To-Toothless, I-I-I" Hiccup couldn't stop stammering and stuttering, he'd never been so nervous in his life, not even when he faced the Red Death. He and Toothless had **never **missed a morning flight, not a single one, since they restored peace to the Isle of Berk. The ritual was incredibly important to the both of them, a way of relaxing and preparing for the day ahead, spending time together in a place they considered to be theirs. And now, Hiccup had just ruined that.

Despite all this shock running through his system, nothing could prepare him for what came next. "You know, I could accept this if you were tired or stressed after dealing with your father. But to skip out on something that is practically sacred to the both of us by using my weakness against me so you could get a few hours' more sleep! Toothless roared this last part so loud it could be heard across the entire village, making every Viking look towards the Haddock house. "That, Toothless spoke deathly quiet this time, "that, is unforgivable"

Now you have to understand, normally, Hiccup would observe Toothless body language and listen to the tones of his warbles to guess what he said, but this time he didn't have to. This time, Hiccup could hear and understand perfectly everything Toothless just said, and despite his friend's anger, Hiccup was in a mixture of shock, joy and confusion. "To-Toothless?" Hiccup asked quietly, afraid that it wasn't real, perhaps part of a dream or his imagination getting away from him, anything to explain how he heard his best friend speak to him.

Said best friend had now dropped his anger in favour of caution and worry, as Hiccup seemed to stare right into him, almost questioning his very being. "Hiccup?" Toothless asked back just as quietly, afraid for his rider's mental state. However he had no time to react as right after Toothless replied, Hiccups eyes widened even more (if that was possible under the current situation) and promptly fainted with the utter grace of a Hiccup, by falling head first into Toothless and falling onto the floor.

The timing of this just so happened to coincide with Stoick the Vast charging into his son's room, ready to defend both Hiccup and Toothless from whatever caused such a commotion, just in time to see Hiccup grow deathly pale and collapse.

"Hiccup!" Stoick shouted for his son in vain as Hiccup fell into unconsciousness. "Toothless, what happened here?" Stoick asked worried about his son and cautious over how it appeared that Toothless was the cause of his sudden collapse, however he knew how much they cared for one another so he was holding back grabbing his axe. For now.

What the large man did absolutely **not** expect was for Toothless to actually voice the situation.

"Well you see I woke him up so he paralyzed me then Hiccup fell asleep and I got angry and shouted but then he got all pale and cross eyed and I just thought he was nervous over missing our flight but then he just collapsed here" Toothless rushed all this out in quick succession not even pausing for breath as the large Viking stared at him in the same way Hiccup had, before promptly sitting down in Hiccups small chair and rubbing his forehead while heaving out a sigh.

"One day, can I not go **one **day without something happening in my village?" Stoick sighed again, just wishing he could understand all that was happening right now, or at the very least that they would go back to normal when Toothless only spoke in grumbles and warbles.

Toothless, meanwhile was looking rather awkward as he had no idea why everyone was acting so strangely towards him, in fact if he wasn't so confident in his appearance (he always bathed himself when Hiccup was asleep at night) then he would presume something was wrong with the way he looked. But, alas, knowing that he looked as graceful and elegant as ever (perhaps even more so this Snoggletog, Astrid gave him a piece of blue fabric that tied around his neck and, while he usually found human clothes distasteful, even he had to admit he looked good with this)

So, with no other alternative way to find answers, Toothless decided to start jabbing, poking and every other form of uncomfortable (and painful, said victim would later voice) touch Toothless could think of in order to wake the boy. Several squeaks later as Toothless jabbed his particularly sensitive sides and said boy was now up, alert and trying to defend himself from the onslaught. "Toothless, gah, nooooo!" Toothless, appeased now that his human was awake decided to show the poor boy mercy and sat back on all fours, examining the scene before him with wide eyed innocence. "Oh good. You're awake again" Toothless muttered (not quite as innocent as some believe) and again watched as Hiccups eyes grew wide. "Toothless?" Hiccup asked quietly. The dragon, annoyed with the way people were acting, quickly bit out a "yes!?" as a retort, deciding to say little out of worry that his anger would cause him to set the house on fire.

Hiccup spoke tentatively, confused and nervous about the current happenings, "Erm, Toothless, bud, you do realise you're talking, right?" Said dragon, not fully understanding at first spoke impatiently, "Well of course I'm talking! What do you-" Toothless suddenly stopped mid rant, as his eyes widened even more with realisation, causing him to speak in a tone similar to Hiccups, "You-you mean? You mean you can understand me now? Both of you?" Toothless asked, barely daring to hope that this was possible. "Aye, I can hear you just fine." Stoick reminded everyone of his presence with his gruff and abrupt tone, "an' I think I'll be leaving you two alone before I get a headache Odin himself would be proud of" Stoick left quickly after that, leaving the room in a deathly silence.

Which lasted about five seconds before being broken by Toothless and Hiccup at the same time, both speaking in excited voices as they ran up to each other, "Toothless, this is incredible! How long have you been able to do this, why did you never tell me, can the other dragons do this too?" Hiccup rushed out in one great sentence as he embraced his friend, while Toothless replied in an equally rushed and excited voice, "Hiccup, I know this amazing, there's so much I've wanted to tell you! I have no idea I've spoken before but no human has ever understood me, and of course I'd tell you if I knew you stupid human, but I don't know if the dragons can be understood as well, we should find out!"

They both kept up this excited chatter for several minutes, both still refusing to move away from each other's side. That is, until, Hiccup suddenly pulled away with a gasp of excitement as Toothless looked down on him with concern. "I've got an idea, bud, why don't we head down to our Cove for a few days for a sort of…vacation?" Toothless quickly showed his enthusiasm by coating Hiccup's face with a new layer of dragon saliva, which, surprisingly for Toothless, for the first time Hiccup didn't pull away in disgust but merely leaned in closer to the dragon with an affectionate smile.

A few hours later, and one loooooong conversation with his father about why it was ok for Hiccup to spend the four days leading up to Snoggletog at the cove and that, no, Toothless was **not** some hell demon come to destroy them all (Hiccup isn't too sure his dad meant that one, but he still finds it impossible to tell when the intimidating man is joking or being deadly serious) However, eventually the man surrendered to Hiccup's determination. _The boy's more stubborn than me_, Stoick thought wryly. The three of them then spent the next hour packing bags on Toothless so they would have enough provisions to last the next four days, as well as Stoick threatening Toothless to promise to keep Hiccup safe and warm (which Toothless could actually make, now that he could speak) Despite Hiccup's, and now Toothless', assurances they would be fine, Stoick still worried, Hiccup had never been a particularly strong Viking, and he had a strange knack of attracting trouble, or making it when none was around. But mostly Stoick was worried over the cold. There's a reason Vikings call this season Devastating Winter, the temperature would drop so low that you could barely take a step outside without getting frostbite on places you really don't want to show the village elder (who also doubled as the village healer)

Two hours later however, as the sun was just beginning to set, Hiccup and Toothless were both ready to depart for the cove and spend the next few days together…

A/N I hope I kept everyone in canon, I know Stoick is usually the tough Viking but he does care about Hiccup's wellbeing. Plus I always imagined Toothless' personality to be like Hiccup's, except perhaps more cautious, but still playful, and with a healthy dose of vanity and pride kicked in.


	2. The Cove

A/N A new update has finally arrived! (Tbh I wrote the first chapter aaaages ago and just didn't upload it till two days ago) Feel free to leave comments, reviews and suggestions of where you want this story to go. Right now I have some ideas but I'm always happy to change or add more. Hiccup and Toothless' relationship is still up for suggestion (which is why this chapter is shorter, I don't want to do anything permanent yet)

While Toothless could have flown himself and Hiccup to their Cove, the pair felt like taking their time, it gave them a chance to chat (Hiccup still couldn't believe it was possible and was constantly questioning Toothless over everything he had done the previous day.

"Come on Toothless! There has to be something that cause this, something you ate maybe? Or perhaps it's a feature of older Night Furies?" Hiccup asked, exasperated over asking the same questions over and over and still being no closer to an answer, as Hiccup believed Toothless knew **something**, however, the poor dragon really was as confused as Hiccup.

"Older?!" Toothless quickly snapped his head back, causing his right ear flap to slap Hiccup in the face, stopping any further questions as the large dragon reared up on his hind legs, causing Hiccup to fall off, landing rather harshly on his butt while looking dazedly up at his friend, as Toothless spun around faster than should have been possible for something his size. "The only thing around here that's old is your sense of humour." Toothless started to sit up on all fours, pushing all his ear flaps back as his expression took on a smug (_arrogant_, Hiccup mind supplied) look, appearing very much like the regal dragon he pretends to be. "I'll have you know that I'm in the prime of my youth"

"Uh huh, well come on then, young one, help me up, since this is your fault" Hiccup mumbled, slowly sitting up anyway from the cold, hard ground. "It's about time we really did head to the Cove before any wild dragons appear, we don't have the time for an adventure right now"

Hiccup's comment didn't exactly help matters, however, so, as usual, Toothless decided to settle things **his **way. _Since my ideas work the best anyway_, Toothless thought. So, as fast as lightning, just as Hiccup had finally stood up and took a step forward, Toothless whipped out his tail, thwacking Hiccup in the back, causing him to stumble, even more so due to his peg leg, just as the rest of Toothless sprang into action, looking like a blur of black as he dived underneath Hiccup so the teen would land perfectly on his back, on the saddle that was placed there…_Maybe also a __**little**__ painfully too,_ the dragon thought, very pleased with himself, as he began strolling, well as much as a one tonne dragon that could burn down an entire village all by himself could stroll with a fuming teenaged Viking boy on his back.

While Hiccup knew it was best to let a dragon, any dragon, have its way when it was ticked off, he couldn't help himself from flicking one of Toothless ear plates in retaliation for the pain he was in (which was actually pretty much gone, except for a slight sting, but he wouldn't tell Toothless that)

And so, a few hours later the duo entered the Cove, side by side now, still bickering, until Toothless suddenly stopped, both physically and verbally as he was currently ranting at Hiccup that it was most definitely **not** him that had eaten three of the sheep in the pens last year that were supposed to be for a feast the village was having as they celebrated the end of last year's Devastating Winter (normally they only make a small feast at some point during the Winter, to celebrate the fact that you were still alive somehow, however last year was **particularly **cold and they were almost out of food until the storm abided, causing Stoick to order a hunt for a feast…which ended up being so loud and intense, the **dragons** had to step in to stop a war with a neighbouring tribe)

"Toothless?" Hiccup questioned as he moved closer to his friend, "What's wro-oh" Hiccup gasped when he followed Toothless line of sight, looking out into the Cove which was completely alight as the moon reached the highest point in the sky, bathing the surrounding area in moonlight, creating a silvery glow around the edge of the Cove, the water in the lake reflecting the light into intricate patterns on the rock face as the wind caused the water to move gently. "This-this is amazing" Hiccup spoke quietly, almost afraid that speaking aloud would cause the moment to break as they both stood together.

Toothless, however, made no motion or sound to indicate he had heard what Hiccup said, he merely stepped forward, cautiously, then, slowly, he began taking more confident steps as he moved into the Cove, allowing the moonlight to hit his scales. Too transfixed on the current sight, the dragon didn't hear the second gasp, as Toothless gently lit a small patch beneath him and made himself comfortable for the night, fully expecting his human to accompany him when the embers died down.

However, after several minutes had passed and Hiccup had not even seemed to have taken a step into the Cove, Toothless looked back where they came from, first worried that something had happened, then confused as he saw Hiccup still staring. Thinking there was something behind him that caught his attention Toothless shifted his gaze, finding nothing out of the ordinary as he moved his head back to face hiccup. Cautiously, Toothless spoke "Hiccup? Is something wrong?"

Said human suddenly jumped, startled as he was brought sharply back to reality. Hiccup, nervous now as to what to say, wet his lips as he stuttered out "Er no not-not wrong exactly it's just" Hiccup stopped there, realising what he was about to say as his eyes widened.

"Just what?" The dragon asked quietly, nervous as to why Hiccup was staring at him, almost trance-like, barely even blinking as he ran his eyes across the dragon's scales. Hiccup spoke quietly again, though this time seemed more out of embarrassment than due to the moment. "It's just the way the moonlight is reflecting off of your scales. In all our flights I've never seen them quite like this. It's…beautiful." Hiccup, completely blushing from head to toe from his admission to his best friend was about ready to collapse. Until Toothless spoke that is…

"I know" Toothless spoke in a proud yet matter of fact voice, as if this was something everybody should know. "Now stop ogling my scales and get over here, your making me shiver just looking at you, and I don't think dragons are even susceptible to the cold.

It was at this point that Hiccup felt to things: First, the sudden desire to murder his friend for his brazen statement, and second, and more importantly, he **really** felt the cold now. He remembered that they were in Devastating Winter, even if it was nearly over, and right now the temperature was probably so low that his spleen would have frostbite, if it weren't from the slight heat emanating from the Dragon and his, now ashen, bed.

Hiccup did as Toothless suggested and moved closer, feeling the heat come off Toothless and restore the feeling to several limbs (as well as some things he considered more important but wasn't about to share at this point) As he moved beside Toothless, who was lying on his side, wings out ready to keep his human warm no matter what nature tried to do, Hiccup put his hands out cautiously, feeling the temperature of the bed Toothless had made. He had to do this all the time, the first time they slept together he forgot what Toothless liked to sleep on and, cold winters on Berk be damned, he ended up with (very minor) burn marks on his butt. He still has **no **idea how he managed to convince his dad that he accidently backed into the forge fires, as he did in no way want to explain to Chief Stoick the Vast, mightiest of Vikings, that some days, when they weren't feeling their best, or were just missing each other, they tended to sleep together.

Finding no problems, and finding the heat rolling off Toothless to already be lulling his brain into a warm and cosy fog that he never wanted to leave, he began to settle down, watching Toothless lower the raised wing around his body, darkness enveloping him, and causing his other senses to become heightened. All he could feel was the soft feel of Toothless' scales and the warmth surrounding him, begging him to give in to sleep as exhaustion from the day's events set in. Almost simultaneously the pair both closed their eyes and drifted off into a companionable sleep, filled with dreams of flying and new adventures…

A/N ok I know that bit about Toothless' scales may have seemed like a step towards their relationship, but I'm sure platonic friends can comment on each other's appearance, and we all know, like Valka said, Toothless is beautiful (You all know it's true). But, and I'll make another note about it at some point, while I do intend (for now) for them to have a relationship, it will **not** be Dragon/Human sex. However, again any suggestions are, of course, welcome and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.


	3. AN sorry

Just a quick A/N guys. I'm so so sorry for not updating in aaaaaaaaaages but I've been ill the past week so please forgive me for not being in a writing mood. Hopefully I'll be better soon and I'll start writing again, but the updates will probably be semi regular while still being weekly as I do have responsibilities (unfortunately) Anyway I hope to see you all again soon and thanks for reading ^_^


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